Two policies wear this name. One pays when you are sued for infringing. The other pays for you to sue.
Intellectual property insurance covers the cost of an infringement dispute over copyright, trademark, patent or trade secret. Defense coverage answers a claim that you infringed; enforcement coverage funds a suit against someone infringing you. Most businesses need the first, a few need the second, and content and technology businesses are usually buying it inside a media or tech E&O policy without knowing it.
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Send us what you have. We’ll tell you if it’s right.
Your current policy paperwork, a renewal notice, or nothing at all. A licensed agent reads it and replies the same business day.
What intellectual property actually covers.
Infringement defense
Legal costs, settlements and damages when someone claims your product, content, name or code infringes their copyright, trademark or patent.
Without it — An infringement suit costs six figures to defend before anyone discusses the merits, and general liability’s narrow copyright grant covers only your own advertisement.
Copyright and trademark inside media and tech E&O
The infringement cover most content and software businesses actually hold: the media liability and technology E&O forms include copyright and trademark defense as a named peril.
Without it — Buyers assume they have no IP cover and buy a second policy for a peril the first one already answers, or assume they have it and hold a form that excludes it.
Patent infringement
Defense of a claim that your product or process practices somebody else’s patent, the most expensive dispute in this family.
Without it — Media and tech E&O forms usually exclude patents outright. Patent defense is its own policy with its own underwriting, deductible and minimum premium.
Enforcement and abatement
Funding to pursue an infringer of your own registered IP, including the investigation and the litigation.
Without it — A small company with a valid patent or mark and no litigation budget cannot enforce it, which every larger competitor knows.
AI training and output claims
A claim that content or code your business generated with an AI tool reproduced someone’s protected work, or that data you used to train a model was used without a license.
Without it — This is where the 2026 forms diverge. Some media and tech E&O policies cover it affirmatively, some now carry a generative-AI exclusion, and the standalone AI policies are written for exactly this claim.
Contract compliance
The IP indemnity and insurance limits a client, studio, platform or enterprise customer requires before signing.
Without it — A software or content contract with an uncapped IP indemnity and no policy behind it is a promise paid from the company’s own balance sheet.
The claims we actually see.
Ordered by how often we see them, not by how dramatic they are. Each one names the coverage that answers it — and the policy people wrongly assume already does.
Most common
A cease-and-desist over a photograph, a clip, a font, a track or a piece of code
Covered by Media liability or tech E&O, copyright and trademark grant
Licensed for personal use, credited, short, or found on a free site are the four things people say. None is a license for the use they made, and the defense costs are the claim.
Common
A trademark dispute over your business name, product name or logo
Covered by Media liability or tech E&O trademark grant; general liability only where the mark appears in your own advertisement
The claim usually arrives after the name has been printed on everything. Rebranding costs are not damages and are not covered; the defense and any settlement are.
Less common, severe
A patent assertion, often from a non-practicing entity
Covered by Patent defense insurance, a separate policy
Media and tech forms exclude patents. Defense to a claim construction hearing alone commonly runs into the hundreds of thousands, and a non-practicing entity prices its settlement demand just under that number.
Less common, severe
A rights holder claims your AI-generated content or model output copies their work
Covered by Media liability, tech E&O or a standalone AI liability policy, depending on the endorsements
Copyright claims are 11.2% of AI-related suits and AI litigation rose 978% between 2021 and 2025 (Gallagher). The $1.5 billion Anthropic settlement in 2025 priced pirated training data at about $3,113 a work. Underwriters read those numbers too.
Where intellectual property shows up.
- Journalists & Local News
Copyright suits can be brought up to three years after the claim accrues, so an old video is still exposed long after a libel deadline has passed.
What the policy will not cover.
Pick a procedure to see what the exclusion actually means and whether it can be placed somewhere else.
The exclusions are where an IP claim is declined, and they are the same on a $100,000 policy and a $100,000,000 one.
What intellectual property insurance excludes
Willful infringement
Copying you knew was infringement is excluded, and a court finding of willfulness can claw back a defense that was being paid.
Can it be placed? No. The application asks about your clearance process because it is the evidence that a later claim was not willful.
Patents, on media and tech E&O forms
Copyright and trademark are covered; patent infringement is almost always excluded on those forms.
Can it be placed? Yes, on a patent defense policy. Expect a deductible of $25,000 or more, coinsurance, and a minimum premium in the low thousands.
Prior knowledge and prior claims
A dispute you knew about before the policy began, or a claim arising from material published before the retroactive date.
Can it be placed? Yes, by negotiating the retroactive date at the first policy and disclosing every letter you have received.
Contractual indemnity beyond your own liability
A promise to indemnify a client for their infringement, or for infringement by a tool you both used, is broader than the policy unless the form extends to it.
Can it be placed? Partly. Some tech E&O forms cover contractual IP indemnity; the contract review is where the rest is fixed.
Generative AI, where the endorsement is attached
A media, tech E&O or general liability policy can now carry a generative-AI exclusion that removes infringement claims arising out of AI-generated material.
Can it be placed? Yes, through a carrier that covers AI affirmatively or a standalone AI liability policy. The declarations page says which you have.
What clients with intellectual property ask us.
What is intellectual property insurance?
A policy that pays the cost of an intellectual property dispute. Defense coverage responds when you are accused of infringing a copyright, trademark, patent or trade secret and pays lawyers, settlements and damages up to the limit. Enforcement coverage funds a suit against someone infringing your registered IP. Copyright and trademark defense is usually already inside a media liability or technology E&O policy; patent cover and enforcement cover are separate purchases.
Do I already have IP coverage in another policy?
Probably some. General liability covers copyright, trade dress and slogan infringement only in your own advertisement, which is narrow. Media liability covers copyright and trademark claims over what you publish. Technology E&O covers them over what you build, license or host. What none of those covers is patents, which need their own policy, and what a 2026 renewal may have removed is anything arising from generative AI. Read the declarations for an AI endorsement before assuming.
What does intellectual property insurance cost?
Copyright and trademark defense bundled into a media or tech E&O policy is included in that premium, which for a small business runs from about $1,000 to $5,000 a year at $1,000,000 of limit. Standalone IP defense and patent policies are priced on your revenue, your industry and the size of your portfolio, from about $2,500 to $50,000 a year, with deductibles that start at $25,000 and coinsurance on many forms. Limits available range from $100,000 to well above $100,000,000.
Does copyright infringement insurance cover AI-generated content?
It did by silence until 2026 and now it depends on the form. ISO released generative-AI exclusions for general liability in January 2026, several carriers filed their own for professional lines, and others, Beazley among them, said they would keep covering it. The claims are real: the $1.5 billion Anthropic settlement in 2025 priced pirated training data at about $3,113 a work, and copyright is the second most common AI claim type. Ask for affirmative AI wording, in writing, before you rely on it.
Is patent infringement covered?
Not by media liability, tech E&O or general liability, which exclude it almost without exception. Patent defense is a separate policy from a small number of specialist markets, underwritten on your products, your freedom-to-operate work and any assertions you have already received, with a meaningful deductible and often coinsurance. A software or hardware company with revenue and no patent defense cover is exposed to non-practicing entities, whose demand is priced to sit just under the cost of defending.
What is IP enforcement or abatement insurance?
The offensive half. It funds the investigation and litigation needed to stop someone infringing your registered patent, trademark or copyright, which a small company otherwise cannot afford to bring. It is written per asset or per portfolio, needs the registration in hand, and pays a share of costs with a coinsurance percentage you carry. It is bought by companies whose value is the IP, and it changes a negotiation the moment the other side learns it exists.
A client wants an uncapped IP indemnity in our contract. Should we sign it?
Not before you know what your policy would pay behind it. A tech E&O or media policy covers your liability for infringement and, on some forms, the contractual indemnity you give a client for it, up to the limit. An uncapped indemnity is a promise to pay from company funds above that limit. The fix is in the contract: cap the indemnity at the policy limit, exclude infringement caused by the client’s specifications or by a tool they required you to use, and send us the clause before you sign.
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